The film world is mourning the premature death of composer James Horner, who won two Oscars for his work on “Titanic”, and who was killed after his
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The film world is mourning the premature death of composer James Horner, who won two Oscars for his work on “Titanic”, and who was killed after his light plane crashed in California. “Titanic” is the best-selling orchestral soundtrack of all time.
His composing career began in the concert hall, with his first notable film score coming for “The Lady in Red” in the late 1970s. His first Oscar nomination came for “Aliens”, and he went on to score more than 100 films, earning him 10 Oscar nominations in total.
His plane came down in the Los Padres national forest near Santa Barbara, starting a fire. It was one of several that he owned.
Several celebrities he knew, notably director Ron Howard who he worked with seven times, tweeted their shock at the news. Russell Crowe, the star of “A Beautiful Mind”, another Horner hit score, was another moved to pay tribute.
He was astonishingly prolific; in 1993 alone he scored 13 movies, 20 hours of recorded music, and reputedly worked 16-hour days. His music was capable of lifting mediocre films to somewhere more elevated, and made him one of the A-list Hollywood elite, “old school” and classically-trained, a dying breed. Leaving us aged 61, he still leaves behind an enormous legacy for us to enjoy.